@misc{34264,
  keywords = {Fan Pressurization, Building envelope, Air tightness, Weighted Line of Organic Correlation, Ordinary Least Square Fitting, Power Law},
  author = {Benedikt Kolsch and Iain S Walker},
  title = {Improving Air Leakage Prediction of Buildings using the Fan Pressurization Method with the Weighted Line of Organic Correlation},
  abstract = {<p>In many countries, the fan pressurization method is the most frequently chosen approach for<br />measuring the air leakage of houses. The measurements are usually performed at pressures that<br />far exceed pressures to which buildings are exposed to under normal conditions. A fit of these<br />tests to the power-law formulation allows an extrapolation to data points outside the measured<br />pressure range. With the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) fitting method, the pressure exponent and<br />flow coefficient can be determined. However, the measurement results are highly sensitive to<br />uncertainties induced by external factors like changing wind conditions during the tests, which is<br />neglected by OLS. This may lead to errors in the prediction of flows at lower pressures. The<br />Weighted Line of Organic Correlation (WLOC) is an alternative approach and takes<br />measurement uncertainty into account. In this paper, a statistical analysis of an extensive data<br />set of pressurization measurements has been performed. Both regression techniques have been<br />compared for almost 7500 fan pressurization measurements of six houses in 109 different house<br />leak configurations. The variability in predicting pressure exponent and flow coefficient for both<br />WLOC and OLS regression was analyzed using probability density functions. It was found that<br />the Weighted Line of Organic Correlation significantly decreases the uncertainty in predicting<br />pressure exponent, flow coefficient, and other low-pressure air leakage metrics compared to the<br />Ordinary Least Square fitting. The authors highly recommend the implementation of WLOC in<br />current measurement standards and test equipment.</p>},
  year = {2020},
  doi = {doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.107157},
  language = {eng},
}